Does YNAB make you feel like you need to hold more cash than expected?
I’ve been using YNAB for a while and I’m trying to figure out if this is a common experience or just how I’ve set things up.
Before YNAB, my approach was pretty simple:
~1 month of expenses in checking for cash flow
6-month emergency fund sitting in HYSA
Everything else more or less “unstructured”
Since moving to YNAB, my cash position has slowly expanded without me really planning it that way.
Right now I have:
1 month ahead category
6-month emergency fund (still intact)
Enough set aside to fully cover my credit card balance at any time
Multiple sinking funds for expected expenses over the next year
When I add everything up, I’m technically now holding roughly 11–12 months of necessary expenses in cash.
On paper, it all has a purpose and is fully assigned in YNAB. But psychologically it feels like I’m holding a lot more liquidity than I used to, even though nothing is “idle” in the budget.
I’m curious if others experience this shift with YNAB:
Did your cash reserves grow over time?
Do you eventually dial it back, or does it naturally stabilize?
Do you think this is just better planning, or is there a risk of over-accumulating cash without realizing it?